At the outset, I would like to congratulate you, Sir, on your well-deserved election as President of the General Assembly at its seventy-seventh session. I wish you every success in fulfilling this great responsibility.
I would also like to sincerely congratulate your predecessor, Mr. Abdulla Shahid, on his outstanding leadership and effective management of our work during the past session. During a challenging time, characterized in particular by the coronavirus disease pandemic, his commendable initiatives enabled us to maintain hope for a better future.
I would like to pay heartfelt tribute to Secretary- General Antonio Guterres and assure him of my country’s full support for his tireless efforts to strengthen the role of the Organization in achieving
the goals we have set ourselves. We encourage the Secretary-General in every regard, including in the implementation of the relevant provisions contained in his report Our Common Agenda (A/75/982).
Cote d’Ivoire welcomes the major successes that the United Nations has achieved in many areas since its founding. In that context, my country would like to thank the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which declared the cessation of refugee status for Ivorian refugees on 30 June. I take this opportunity to commend the excellent cooperation between UNHCR and my country. Nevertheless, the multiple and complex challenges involving peace, security, democracy, the protection of human rights and the preservation of the environment remain matters of concern. I welcome the relevance of the theme of this session, which calls on us to consider solutions to overcome the challenges before us.
The exacerbation of geopolitical tensions and the emergence of new international conflicts are endangering international peace and security. The recent war in Ukraine has reminded us that peace is a perennial quest that we must pursue relentlessly. The confrontation, which poses the threat of the use of nuclear weapons, continues to undermine world peace and plunge humankind into multiple crises. It demonstrates to us once again the shortcomings of resorting to the military option in the resolution of conflicts. That is why Cote d’Ivoire, which has always advocated for peaceful coexistence and the use of dialogue in the search for solutions to disputes among nations, renews its call for the immediate and definitive cessation of hostilities in Ukraine.
The war has serious economic, financial and social consequences for African countries. Indeed, the rise in the price of oil and difficulties in supplying markets with cereals and fertilizers have led to widespread inflation, an increase in interest rates in international markets and a slowdown in world growth. For several African countries, the conflict has therefore resulted in difficulties in financing their economies, an increase in the price of basic commodities and even famine-like conditions, owing to their dependence on grain and fertilizer from Ukraine and Russia.
That situation has led the Ivorian Government to subsidize the cost of petroleum products and wheat and temporarily cap the price of several staple foods in order to support households, particularly those in greatest need. I welcome the signing of the agreement in Istanbul on 22 July on the export of wheat from Ukraine, brokered by the United Nations and Tiirkiye.
However, we regret that only 17 per cent of the wheat exported from Ukraine since that date has been earmarked for African countries. Therefore, Cote d’Ivoire asks once again that priority be given to Africa in the implementation of the Istanbul agreement. We also call on the international financial institutions and Africa’s development partners to urgently raise the necessary resources to support the most vulnerable countries so that they can deal with the multiple effects of the conflict in Ukraine.
United Nations peacekeeping operations are the tangible results of our collective efforts in the service of peace in countries affected by conflict. Cote d’Ivoire, which hosted one of the largest United Nations peacekeeping operations in Africa, fully appreciates the sacrifices made by troop-contributing countries to enable the restoration of peace and facilitate postconflict reconstruction.
Based on the success of the United Nations Operation in Cote d’Ivoire and our faith in the values of the Charter of the United Nations, we have actively participated in United Nations peacekeeping operations, as I stated before the Security Council in December 2018 (see S/PV.8413). In that regard, I am pleased that Cote d’Ivoire participates in the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) and the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic. I commend the professionalism of the Ivorian contingents deployed in those peacekeeping operations.
I pay tribute to the memory of the Ivorian soldiers who died in the service of peace in the brotherly country of Mali, which requires the resolute commitment of all those at its side in its fight against armed terrorist groups. Unfortunately, in the context of the fight against terrorism, 46 Ivorian soldiers, who are part of the eighth rotation of the national support element within MINUSMA, have been unjustly detained there since 10 July. I once again call for their immediate release. My country encourages the Malian authorities to focus their efforts on combating terrorism and resolutely implementing the various stages of the transition timetable and the political and institutional reforms, in view of the presidential elections scheduled
for February 2024, for the sake of the welfare of the Malian people.
Terrorism continues to pose a major threat to international peace and security and to represent an immense challenge that no country has succeeded in overcoming alone. We therefore must strengthen our pooled resources to combat that scourge and demonstrate solidarity and determination.
In that regard, my country commends the decisive action taken by France and its European partners in the Sahel and reiterates its call for the greater involvement of the other major Powers in the fight against terrorism in the Sahel and the Gulf of Guinea by supporting national armies, the Economic Community of West African States and the Accra initiative. In order to contribute to that collective effort, Cote d’Ivoire has opened to African countries the International Counter- Terrorism Academy, which is based in the coastal town of Jacqueville and provides training in all civilian and military sectors involved in the fight against terrorism.
The current session of the General Assembly is being held at a time when the energy crisis resulting from the war in Ukraine has tended to compromise the progress made in reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, particularly as a consequence of some industrialized countries’ return to the use of coal. Unfortunately, time is running out, and we must act quickly and implement all of the commitments under the Paris Agreement on Climate Change to meet the goal of maintaining global warming below 1.5°C. In order to meet that goal, developed countries must drastically reduce their greenhouse-gas emissions and uphold their commitment to contributing $100 billion dollars a year to developing countries.
I am convinced that the twenty-seventh Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, to be held in Egypt, will provide a new opportunity to renew the political commitment of all stakeholders to contribute to financing the fight against global warming. I would like to point out once again that my country will uphold its commitments under the Paris Agreement and is committed to protecting its forest heritage and rich biodiversity.
That is the raison d’etre of the Abidj an initiative—the Abidjan Legacy Programme — launched at the fifteenth session of the Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, which Cote d’Ivoire had the honour to host from 9 to 20 May. I was delighted by the exceptional commitment and financial support of development partners for the Abidjan initiative, which very quickly garnered the resources necessary for its implementation, in the amount of more than $2.5 billion.
Today more than ever, humankind is at a turning point with regard to its future. The threats facing our countries compel us to show greater solidarity, collaboration, justice and equity — the principles that underpin the multilateralism to which my country remains committed. In the same spirit, Cote d’Ivoire calls for a thorough reform of the Security Council, in which Africa will be able take its rightful place.